Living a Little Outside the Temple

Sister Mary Scullion ’76, RSM, isn’t the type of Catholic to give up sweets for Lent. Instead, her chosen practice for these 40 days is, basically, more work.

As the co-founder and executive director of Project HOME, Scullion oversees the Philadelphia-based homeless services organization’s myriad programs in emergency, transitional and permanent supportive housing; adult learning and workforce development; social enterprises; healthcare and recovery services; teen and youth programs; advocacy and public policy; and veterans services. Yet it’s Scullion's newest project that has earned the SJU trustee's Lenten attention: the Hub of Hope.

The walk-in engagement center, located in Suburban Station, opened on January 30, 2018, to offer Philadelphians experiencing homelessness a shower, coffee, laundry and weekend meals as well as health and case management services. A year in, Scullion is able to reflect on the program’s successes.

“The Hub has been a safe haven for those in need,” she continues. “I'm spending more time there to be with those who are on the margins of our society.”

The idea of confronting the city’s institutionalized norms and policies is not new to Scullion. After its founding in 1989, Project HOME fought a four-year legal battle to open a residence at 1515 Fairmount Avenue. Though permits were secured from the project’s start in 1990, the plan was met with pushback from neighborhood associations, leading the U.S. Department of Justice to sue the City of Philadelphia on behalf of Project HOME in late 1992. The suit alleged that the city violated Fair Housing laws, requiring reasonable modifications in building permits for the property’s future residents with mental and physical disabilities.

The case earned Project HOME national recognition. Scullion led the charge on citywide acts of public advocacy including a vigil outside the Mayor’s office that resulted in 23 arrests for civil disobedience. Seeing all that the organization has accomplished since then, it is not surprising that in 1994 the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled in its favor.

“1515 Fairmount is now home to 48 single-room occupancy units,” she affirms.

Challenging institutions, whether it’s local government or the Church hierarchy, will be a focal point of Scullion’s lecture, “Visionary Women and the Church,” on Wednesday, March 27 at Saint Joseph’s University. Covering the works of Dorothy Day, Catherine McAuley, Teresa of Avila and the Blessed Mother, the talk in honor of Women’s History Month will look back at the historical contributions of women in the Church as champions of peace and justice, and how the role of women can evolve. The event, to be held at 7 p.m. in the Cardinal John P. Foley Center, is sponsored by the Faith-Justice Institute’s Joseph William and Madeline Eberle Klein Fund.

“Men make the rules — everywhere, but especially in the institutional Church — and make us play on their court,” says Scullion. “But these women speak to things beyond the Church, which today has lost relevance as a spiritual pathfinder.

“The Church cries out for transformation and advancement toward that Kingdom come, to heal,” she continues. “Even Jesus challenged His institutional religion when it was off base. All saints have to live a little outside the temple to do what’s right.”

That Scullion’s faith is deeply rooted is evident. The trials and difficult work she undertakes, lately at the Hub, only deepen and enhance that for her.

“I see beyond the institutional challenges when it comes to faith,” she says. “I can credit that to a strong Jesuit spirituality that has shaped my life for decades.”